Livingston's County's Punkin Chunkin team relinquishes its crown
After winning the 2006 Punkin Chunkin Association World championship, our Livingston County's team Second Amendment could not defend its world title at the World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association competition in Nassau, Delaware.
The concept behind the competition is simple: Shoot a white, rock-hard pumpkin - the farthest, win a championship. This contest originally starting in 1986. Competing teams construct and fire a variety of pumpkin-launching devices, including catapults, trebuchets, centrifugal machines, and pneumatic air cannons. Launchers typically hurl white pumpkins because they can better withstand the forces of launch than the regular orange ones. Each chunk is then marked with a small, color coded flag by officials in the chunking zone on ATVs. The sole fatality of the contest has been a duck hit by a hurled pumpkin.
Our county's team, Second Amendment, has won four of the last five championships. They lost in 2004 because its cannon shot the punkin so far, it got lost in the woods. It also owns the world record for blasting a punkin the farthest - 0.84 miles, about 4,400 feet - although, during practices, it claims to have shot one as far as 0.95 miles - more than 5,000 feet
The punkin chunkin "cannon" was built by Kaeser Compressors, Inc. Fredericksburg, VA
A New Jersey-based team outgunned Livingston County's reigning champs in the world of "punkin chunkin," firing a rock-hard pumpkin - also known as a "punkin" - out of an air cannon nearly four-fifths of a mile in a competition last weekend in Bridgeville, Del.
Team Second Amendment - which practices in Howell Township and won the world punkin chunkin title in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 - ended this year's competition Sunday with a "pie," meaning its pumpkin was disqualified because it broke apart while being fired from the 100-foot-long cannon.
This year's champions, New Jersey's Team Big 10 Inch, found its winning pumpkin at a Wilmington patch and shot it 4,211.27 feet out of its air cannon on Sunday.
Competitors faced stiff winds over the weekend and distances were short of the record 4,434 feet set in 2003 by Livingston County's Team Second Amendment.
reprinted in part from: Daily Press & Argus, & Wikipedia Encyclopedia
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